Star Wars Year By Year

When I was at Comic-Con in July, I attended the DK Publishing panel where the authors and contributors of Star Wars Year By Year discussed their roles in putting together this chronicle of all things Star Wars. It was actually a pretty interesting panel and brought back some fond memories of my Star Wars-filled childhood, but the best part was that I won a free copy of the book!

Honestly, I didn't know anything about the book going in and the way they described it made it sound like it was similar to DK's other Star Wars contributions like the Incredible Cross-sections and so forth. However, the book came in the mail today and as soon as I picked it up, I knew it was going to be more than I expected.

The book weighs like 5 lbs and retails at $50 (both of which were surprises to me), but I was really shocked when I opened it up and began to grasp the amazing level of detail. There are just a ton of fantastic photos and tidbits of information. It really is incredible. It definitely made me chuckle a few times as I thought back on some of the toys I had, games I played, or books I read as I grew up.

I haven't had a chance to really go through it, but I can't wait to dig in. The one that I already know for sure is that it's going to make a great coffee table book. I've already decided that it holds an honorary spot where all my guests will be able to page through it.

Comic-Con Recap #5: Sunday

Sunday was kids day at Comic-Con and everything was scheduled to be wrapped up at 5:00 PM. I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the Sunday panels and overall atmosphere. After three days of pure glory, the convention kind of went out with a fizzle. I actually think I would prefer to just eliminate Sunday scheduling and go out with a bang (or maybe next time I would just skip Sunday).

The other part that was weird was that almost all of the panels were geared towards kids, but there weren't really many kids at Comic-Con. And what kid wants to sit through an hour long panel anyways? I give them credit for trying to introduce a kid-friendly atmosphere, but I just didn't think it worked very well.

Comic-Con exclusive LOST figures
(atop a beautiful hotel comforter)

So what ended up happening was that the Exhibit Hall was a zoo, largely because all the adults that had four day passes still showed up and needed something to do. That is exactly what happened to my brother and I. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely cool to finally spend some time in the Exhibit Hall and finally pick up some souvenirs, but I would have liked to sit in on a panel or two.

Now that isn't to say we didn't try to sit through a panel. My brother and I are both huge Harry Potter fans so, naturally, we showed up at the Harry Potter fandom panel. Admittedly, I was nervous about there being an army of 14 year old girls in attendance, but we needed something to do and decided to give it a shot.

To be perfectly honest, about 15 minutes in, I was already thinking that it was the worst panel that I had attended. I guess I thought that the panel of well-known Potter fans would, you know, talk about the upcoming movies and perhaps discuss the footage shown in Hall H on Saturday. Instead, the panel opted for long-winded soliloquies about why the Potter fan community is still so strong.

Comic-Con exclusive Star Wars figures

But just when I thought I might doze off, it got worse. The crowd started singing the words to one of the songs of the Harry Potter musical and shortly afterwards they opened it up for fan questions. I got nervous when a dozen teenage girls sprinted to the microphone in the middle isle, but I didn't actually walk out until the third consecutive "shipper" question was asked. Yikes.

I had been thinking about attending the Buffy musical screening, but after the Potter fiasco, I was scared to go anywhere near Ballroom 20.

Overall, Comic-Con was completely awesome. I definitely want to go again, but I'm not sure if it will be next year. If I lived in southern California, I think I would go every year. A lot of people that had been going for several years complained about the lines and the crowds (which was certainly understandable), but they were manageable if you planned things out and just accepted that you weren't going to see every cool thing at the convention.

Well, I think that is it for the Comic-Con recaps. I'm out. Godspeed.

Comic-Con Recap #3: Friday

Friday was officially Star Wars day at Comic-Con and, as a pretty big Star Wars geek, it was pretty easy to find a panel to attend. In fact, we ended up sitting through four Star Wars panels back-to-back. Here's a brief recap:

DK Star Wars: From Banthas to X-Wings - This was a pretty interesting panel. Several well-known Star Wars authors and experts discussed their roles in writing Star Wars Year by Year. At the end, they gave away 5 copies and I won one! Of course, I haven't heard back from DK yet, so hopefully they'll send it.

Amazing diorama at the Hasbro booth

Star Wars Day: Hasbro Panel - Hasbro gave us a look at upcoming Star Wars toys, which was pretty cool, even though I stopped collecting a few years ago. The coolest thing was definitely the AT-AT, which was incredible.

Star Wars Day: Collectibles Update - Representatives from several companies showed off upcoming Star Wars collectibles. It was fairly interesting, but was probably my least favorite of the Star Wars panels, mostly because I can't afford most of the collectibles.

Star Wars: The Old Replubic - My brother is a pretty huge fan of the KOTOR games and was really excited about this panel about the new MMORPG by Bioware that is set in the same universe. We definitely got an interesting insider's perspective on the creative process and the audience asked some pretty good questions. I don't think I'll play the game, but my brother probably will and I'm definitely interested to see what it will be like.

The only downside to our Star Wars marathon was that we missed a couple of panels that I would have really liked to attend including the Caprica and Joss Whedon Experience panels.

After that, we got some food, checked out the Exhibit Hall, wandered around the Gaslamp District, and ended up watching Inception at Horton Plaza.

Well, I'm out. Godspeed.